| Syria, rebels trade blame over fragile U.N. ceasefire Posted:  BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Syrian government and rebels traded blame on Thursday for a huge explosion which killed 16 people in the city of Hama, as a two-week-old U.N.-backed ceasefire looked increasingly fragile. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon accused Damascus of breaking its pledge to withdraw heavy weapons and troops from towns, saying he was "gravely alarmed by reports of continued violence and killing in Syria." Syria blamed "terrorist" bomb-makers for Wednesday's blast. ...
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| Exclusive: Senate probe finds little evidence of effective 'torture' Posted:  (Reuters) - A nearly three-year-long investigation by Senate Intelligence Committee Democrats is expected to find there is little evidence the harsh "enhanced interrogation techniques" the CIA used on high-value prisoners produced counter-terrorism breakthroughs. People familiar with the inquiry said committee investigators, who have been poring over records from the administration of President George W. Bush, believe they do not substantiate claims by some Bush supporters that the harsh interrogations led to counter-terrorism coups. ...
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| U.S., Japan unveil revised plan for Okinawa Posted:  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and Japan announced on Thursday a revised agreement on streamlining the U.S. military presence on Okinawa that will shift 9,000 Marines from the southern Japanese island to Guam and other Asia-Pacific sites. The new plan, unveiled days before Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda meets President Barack Obama in Washington, helps the allies work around the central but still-unresolved dispute over moving the Futenma air base from a crowded part of Okinawa to a new site that has vexed relations for years. ...
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| Bin Laden's family deported from Pakistan to Saudi Arabia Posted:  ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The family of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, killed almost a year ago by American special forces in a military town in northwest Pakistan, left Pakistan for Saudi Arabia early on Friday morning, the family lawyer told Reuters. The move ends months of speculation about the fate of the three widows and 11 children, who were detained by Pakistani security forces after the May 2 raid. "Yes, they're being deported to Saudi Arabia," said Aamir Khalil, the family lawyer. "It is a special flight." The jet took off at around 1:30 a.m. ...
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| Taliban website hacked as Afghan cyber war heats up Posted: KABUL (Reuters) - Hackers have for the third time in less than a year crippled the main website of the Afghan Taliban, with a Taliban spokesman on Friday blaming Western intelligence agencies amid an intensifying cyber war with the insurgents. The unidentified hackers broke into the Taliban's El Emara website twice on Thursday, replacing usual insurgent victory messages with images of executions and support for the Afghan government and security forces in English, Arabic and Pashto. ... |
| Hague court convicts Taylor of crimes in Sierra Leone Posted:  THE HAGUE (Reuters) - A United Nations-backed court convicted former Liberian president Charles Taylor of war crimes and crimes against humanity, the first time a head of state has been found guilty by an international tribunal since the Nazi trials at Nuremberg. The first African leader to stand trial for war crimes, Taylor had been charged with 11 counts of murder, rape, conscripting child soldiers and sexual slavery during intertwined wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone, when more than 50,000 people were killed. ...
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| U.S. oil report seen supporting Iran sanctions Posted:  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration is unlikely to pull back from levying sanctions against Iran oil transactions based on a government report due on Friday, which is expected to show crude markets are sufficiently well-supplied to move forward with the penalties. The report, which the U.S. Energy Information Administration is required to produce every two months under the sanctions law aimed at curbing Tehran's nuclear ambitions, could walk a fine line in assessing the state of markets, according to analysts. ...
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| Home surrounded after blind China activist's mystery "escape" Posted: BEIJING (Reuters) - A blind legal activist and one of China's most prominent human rights advocates has escaped home detention in the country's east, activists said on Friday, but confusion over his whereabouts has worried supporters. Chen Guangcheng, a self-schooled legal advocate in ailing health who campaigned against forced abortions, had been restricted to his village home in Linyi in Shandong province since September 2010 when he was released from jail. ... |
| Sarkozy swings further right, Hollande holds lead Posted:  PARIS (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy swung further to the right on Thursday, proposing a new license to shoot for police pursuing suspects, in an increasingly frantic quest to woo far-right National Front voters before a decisive election runoff. A new rise in unemployment to the highest level since September 1999 dealt another blow to the conservative Sarkozy's effort to catch up with Socialist frontrunner Francois Hollande before the May 6 second round of the presidential election. ...
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| Barak restates Israeli hard line on nuclear Iran Posted:  JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Defense Minister Ehud Barak restated Israel's fears of a nuclear-armed Iran on Thursday after his top general clashed with the government's line by describing the Islamic republic as "very rational" and unlikely to build a bomb. Addressing foreign diplomats on Israel's independence day, Barak said Iranian leaders were not "rational in the Western sense of the word - connoting the quest for status quo and the peaceful resolution of problems". ...
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| Israeli leaders speak up about Syria Posted:  Israeli officials have become increasingly outspoken in their belief that Syria's President Bashar Assad should relinquish power after a 13-month uprising that has killed thousands of his citizens — a surprising turnaround that risks backfiring and potentially strengthening the embattled Syrian leader.
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| Activists: Blind Chinese lawyer flees house arrest Posted:  A blind legal activist who is a key figure in China's rights movement escaped the house arrest he had lived under for a year and a half, fleeing to an undisclosed location and angering captors who then turned on his family, rights campaigners said Friday.
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| Charles Taylor conviction sends warning to tyrants Posted:  Former Liberian President Charles Taylor became the first head of state since World War II to be convicted by an international war crimes court, a historic verdict that sends a message that tyrants worldwide will be tracked down and brought to justice.
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| US to remove 9,000 Marines from Okinawa Posted:  About 9,000 U.S. Marines stationed on the Japanese island of Okinawa will be moved to the U.S. territory of Guam and other locations in the Asia-Pacific, including Hawaii, under a U.S.-Japan agreement announced Thursday.
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| Photo: North Korea's big show visible from space Posted:  In North Korea, the choreography can be part of the geography.
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| UN proposes decrease in Darfur force Posted: The U.N. peacekeeping chief is calling for a significant decrease and reorganization in the joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur because fighting between Sudanese government forces and rebel groups has decreased. |
| Pakistan deports bin Laden family to Saudi Arabia Posted:  ISLAMABAD - Pakistani authorities deported Osama bin Laden's three widows and his children to Saudi Arabia early Friday, less than a week before the first anniversary of the unilateral American raid that killed the al-Qaida leader in his hideout in a military town.
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| UN maintains sanctions on Ivory Coast Posted: The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Thursday to maintain sanctions on Ivory Coast for another year, including an arms embargo and a ban on importing rough diamonds from the West African nation. |
| Syrian regime, rebels trade blame for deadly blast Posted:  U.N. observers on Thursday inspected the site of an explosion that flattened a block of houses in the central Syrian city of Hama and killed at least 16 people, while the government and the opposition traded blame over the cause of the blast.
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| Rights groups decry killing of Cambodian activist Posted: Human rights and environmental groups on Friday denounced the shooting death of a prominent Cambodian environmental activist by military police who had confronted him while he was investigating illegal logging. |
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